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Machine safety

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John Rudd:
I must re-iterate the need for extreme vigilance when using a manual crank for threading...

Last night I needed to thread a piece of bar with an M6 thread, out came the hand crank that fits into the spindle of my Chester 9*20, it only needs a nip up with a 13mm A/F spanner and thats it sorted. Thread cut on the bar and I'm ready to clean up....

So power back on the lathe by resetting the Emergency Stop switch and away we go..(there are two other steps required before the machine will run I might add....)

There was a lot of noise and a tin of WD40 fell to the floor before I realised what was happening!!!

I some how managed to catch my left hand on the rotating crank, fortunately I was wearing some thin gloves else the damage may have been worse...

I hit the EM Stop before the machine had managed to build up too much speed......

In my haste to complete the job I forgot to remove the crank from the spindle much to my own suffering!!!

I might add, I usually remove the spindle drive belt to prevent me doing such stupid things, but this time I thought it was only a 2 min job to thread the bar.......

I'd have posted pictures of the injury to my left hand but thought it may have caused some distress, I leave it to your own imagination

Be warned gents, these things can bite real hard if you get it wrong..I've learned a lesson which could have cost me my fingers or worse..

I cant stress how conscious we need to be when operating machinery..

Please,  Be Safe.....

John ( aka Fingers...  :P  )

John Hill:
Thanks for the reminder John. :thumbup:

I cut my finger just the other day,  I was putting a drill press column into its base and I had one finger underneath to feel when the column got to the bottom.   :wack:  Of course it moved suddenly at the last moment and the result was blood on the floor. ::)

John Rudd:
Sorry to hear of your accident, John....

Just goes to show how a little distracted we need to be before something bites...

I bet the air was blue as well as the ground being red...Just hope you didnt lose too much claret :) and suffer too much pain...

After the belt I got yesterday, I thought I may have broken fingers...but it wasnt that bad after all...Like I said, I think the gloves helped ( even tho' we should wear them... )

andyf:
Johns, sorry to hear you have both been in the wars. I try to remember to unplug the lathe when using my hand-crank as a reminder, but sometimes think "It'll just take a couple of minutes...".

After reading John Hill's original post, I'm now definitely going to replace my crank-shaped crank with a plain wheel. Then, if I do start the motor with it in place, there'll be less chance of injury, and it will be better balanced so my little lathe won't dance around.

Andy

 

Darren:
Thanks for the reminder, had my son round for the weekend using the lathe again. I'm like a parent with a baby. He's very competent for a 15yr old but it sure makes me nervous all the same.

Then back on my own it's all relaxed and worry free. Thanks for the reminder that we must still be vigilant.

Hope your hand is OK  :(

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